Monday, January 14, 2008

Penny N., a friend of Eleanor's who had majored in Speech Correction at Columbia College, was living in Columbia at this time. Eleanor contacted her and told her my condition so Penny would come to the hospital when my family couldn't be there and do little personal things for me. And because I was still so weak, she would open the little packets and wait while I ate the meal so she could help me brush my teeth afterwards. She was a dear daughter to me when my own daughters couldn't be there.

Penny and Eleanor wanted to begin speech therapy right away to get me started thinking and speaking again. Eleanor, when she could come up to Columbia, would sometimes point to a card with some picture on it ...like a cat or dog or a pencil or chair...and ask me to try to say it. I would know what the picture was, but I just could not think how to say the word. And Penny, when she came, would ask me to describe to her our new house, knowing this subject would be dear to me. What does the living room look like? How about the dining room? I could see, in my mind's eye, both rooms so vividly and wanted, so badly, to be able to describe how pretty each was. But I couldn't. So she would try to help by asking questions to which I could just nod ''Yes” or ''No”. If I might be able to think of one word every now and then she would exclaim, excitedly, that she was understanding what I was trying to say. That was the encouragement I needed to try again; although, my brain would tire so quickly and so easily and then I would feel worn out and even frustrated by having used my brain to concentrate for too long a time.

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In Memory of Ashlyn Gray

Brain Tumor Survivor at age 72 (2001)

About This Blog.....

This is my mother's story of her 30+ years of experiences associated with meningioma brain tumors . She wrote her story to help others that face the same challenges and disabilities that she faced. She wrote this journal over a period of years between about 1988-1995 before the advent of user friendly blogs. The original title was "I Left My Outcome to God" by Ashlyn C. Gray, but she referred to it as "My Story". She passed away in 2005 at the age of 76.

If this written account of her experiences has helped others in any way, I am sure Mama would be extremely pleased. I would love to hear from anyone who has been helped by her story.